Mercedes-Benz increases GCC market share

Mercedes-Benz successfully defended its position as the leader in the luxury segment in the Middle East & Levant in 2009, despite facing very difficult market conditions.

In December, the company delivered 1,237 vehicles up nine percent on the same period in 2008 helping raise its annual market share in the luxury vehicle segment to just over 23% when the market itself was down some 22%.

“With our December figures, we continued the positive trend of the past several months, maintaining our position as the leading luxury brand in the market,” said Frank Bernthaler, Director, Sales and Marketing, Mercedes-Benz Cars, Middle East & Levant.

In 2009, Mercedes-Benz Middle East & Levant delivered 15,370 vehicles helped by increased luxury SUV sales which rose to 2,816 (2008: 2,327) and included a 65% rise in deliveries of the evergreen G-Class and a massive 499% increase in sales of the chic and cheerful entry level GLK.

During the year as a whole, Mercedes-Benz delivered 1,012,300 vehicles to customers worldwide (2008: 1,121,700 – minus 9.7%) and, in many cases, performed better than the total market in many countries including the U.S., China, Canada, Russia, the UK, South Korea, and Brazil.

“We were able to steadily increase our sales in the second half of the year after facing strong market declines in the first six months. Sales in the fourth quarter were substantially higher than in the same period of the previous year, increasing by 13%,” said Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars. “The new E-Class and the new-generation S-Class contributed particularly to this achievement.”

Regionally, besides the E-Class and the S-Class, Mercedes-Benz also presented the updated generation of the GL at the Dubai Motor Show in December 2009. At the same time, the company forged ahead with innovations in the area of sustainable mobility.

With the S 400 HYBRID, for example, Mercedes-Benz became the first European manufacturer to introduce a series-produced hybrid car with a lithium-ion battery to the Middle East and Levant market.

In 2010, Mercedes-Benz will also offer its customers many attractive new products, beginning with the new E-Class convertible at the end of March, which will round out the E-Class model family.

“We are superbly positioned this year with a range of attractive and competitive products. We will especially benefit right away from the fact that the entire E-Class family will be available. We therefore expect sales to be slightly higher in 2010 than last year and that we will successfully defend our position against the competition,” Bernthaler added.

Positive momentum in 2010 will also be generated by the special Middle East only edition of the G-Class and the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, deliveries of which will begin in the second quarter of 2010, for which customer expectations have already been exceeded.